Following a series of high-profile defeats in 2022 and 2023, 2024 was another rough year for soft-on-crime prosecutors and district attorneys backed by liberal megadonor George Soros. After years in which “Soros prosecutors” ran roughshod over the criminal justice system in many of America’s biggest cities, it appears even voters in the most deeply progressive corners of the country have had enough.
According to a new report from the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF), a nonprofit aimed at defending “the law enforcement profession and those law enforcement officers who have devoted their lives to upholding the Constitution and serving the United States,” 21 Soros-linked progressive prosecutors have been replaced by tough-on-crime prosecutors since 2022, while four have left office. In that same time period, just 13 new Soros prosecutors have been elected, while eight Soros prosecutors have been replaced by other soft-on-crime prosecutors.
On the whole, LELDF notes, the trends clearly show that soft-on-crime prosecutors are falling out of favor with the public, even as Soros and his extensive web of nonprofits continue to pour millions of dollars into electing them. As of this January, Soros and Soros-linked groups had spent at least $50 million electing dozens of “social justice” district attorneys nationwide. At the height of the movement, Soros prosecutors represented 70 million people, or more than one in five Americans.
District attorneys arguably have more power than any single individual to influence the justice system because of their discretion in choosing what crimes to prosecute and how to prosecute them. Historically, most district attorneys have been largely nonpartisan, understanding that their role is to enforce the laws on the books and keep the public safe. As a result, district attorney elections are usually low-dollar affairs.
Starting around 2015, however, Soros realized that a relatively small investment in these races could yield immense influence. Once in power, his acolytes began instituting policies like ending cash bail and outright refusing to prosecute some crimes, including robbery. Predictably, crime has skyrocketed in jurisdictions overseen by Soros prosecutors, leading to the ongoing backlash from voters.
Undoubtedly the most high-profile defeat for a Soros prosecutor this year was Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, who went down to Independent challenger Nathan Hochman. Over his four years in office, Gascon racked up a grisly record of repeat offenders committing heinous crimes thanks to his “bail reform” policies. In one high-profile case from earlier this year, a man convicted of murder who was released early thanks to Gascon committed another senseless murder, generating intense public outrage.
Just up the coast in Alameda County, outside of San Francisco, voters recalled District Attorney Pamela Price following her decision to drop two murder charges against Delonzo Logwood, a career criminal who killed three people outside a club. As a result, Logwood is now looking at early release in a few years instead of facing life without parole. Price received more than $1 million from Soros-linked groups.
Across the country in Athens, Georgia, Deborah Gonzalez was trounced 60 percent to 40 percent by Republican Kalki Yalamanchili. Gonzalez’s circuit, which includes liberal Athens-Clarke County and conservative Oconee County, was the site of the horrific murder of nursing student Laken Riley earlier this year. Riley was slain by a Venezuelan migrant who was reportedly known to authorities. Gonzalez has notably failed to secure even a single guilty verdict the entire time she has been in office.
Some Soros prosecutors were so ineffective or unpopular that they didn’t even make it to their elections. In Portland, Oregon, Soros-funded Mike Schmidt lost a primary election to Nathan Vasquez, one of his deputies who ran promising to be tougher on crime. “We must take lawless behavior seriously and enforce our laws,” Vasquez’s campaign platform said. “Even ‘petty’ crimes, like theft, vandalism, and littering, public use of illicit drugs and public drug use, all contribute to the overall feeling of safety and wellbeing of a community.” Schmidt had notably declined to prosecute those crimes.
Even when voters haven’t directly ousted progressive prosecutors, some have been caught up in criminal cases of their own. In Mississippi, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens was indicted on eight federal charges just after Election Day. Owens faces one count of conspiracy, three counts of federal program bribery, one count of use of an interstate facility in aid of racketeering, one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering, and one count of making a false statement.
Despite this momentum shift in recent years, Soros and the activist groups he funds have remained defiant, insisting that their vision for “reimagining” the criminal justice system will ultimately prevail. It appears that until voters boot every Soros prosecutor from office, they will still have to contend with their dangerous soft-on-crime policies.
Andrew Shirley is a veteran speechwriter and AMAC Newsline columnist. His commentary can be found on X at @AA_Shirley.
